World Tapas Day, a Taste of Lanzarote and a Taste of Dublin

Tapas Day, a Taste of Lanzarote 
and a Taste of Dublin

Pat Keenan was there and look some pictures
     I was transported to Lanzorote twice this month, alas virtually, we were actually in Dublin, where the sun, the food and wine were very real and the chefs from Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, were here to demonstrate their skills. In the first of the events, the Spanish Tourism Office in Dublin together with Turismo Lanzarote, Saboreal Lanzarote (Tasting Lanzarote), invited the Irish travel trade and media to a Lanzarote gastronomic evening at Medley in Dublin's Fleet Street, where we sampled salty (yes) sweet potato chips and moray eel chips; artisan cheeses with 'volcanic fig' (well, just about everything is volcanic in Lanzarote); those love’em or hate’em salty wrinkled potatoes with red mojo sauce, medregal fish, 'local kid' (probably goat), cactus fruit soup (yum) and wine made from the Volcanic Malvasia grapes (yes, I know).
     Later in the week on World Tapas Day, Spanish Tourism, Turismo Lanzarote, Saboreal Lanzarote invited the Irish public to the taverns of Spain, (again, virtually) at  Grand Canal Square and The Taste of Dublin in Iveagh Gardens.
     The Port House helped out at Iveagh Gardens. They have three fantastic restaurants in Dublin - South William Street, Temple Bar and Dundrum - and a further one on the Strand in London.

Spanish Ambassador to Ireland José María Rodríguez Coso and director of Spanish Tourism Board, Dublin,Teresa Gancedo chat with chef Manu Liria from Lanzarote. 

Top Spanish chefs at Taste of Dublin
     Turismo Lanzarote sent us two of their foremost chefs, Manu Liria from Amura Restaurante and Pedro Santana. They demonstrated for us how to prepare cooked Canadian poached salted white fish

Manu Liria

Manu Liria from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria  did an internship in the Michelin star restaurant Gaudí, in London. Afterwards worked in Sydney, New York, Madrid, London, Ibiza and, finally, back to Lanzarote where at the Amura restaurant  he combines Canarian cuisine with culinary styles from Morocco, India and Japan.

Pedro Santana

     Pedro Santana has worked at the restaurant Aromas Yaiza in Playa Blanca and currently at the Casa Brígida, in Marina Rubicón of Lanzarote, where guests enjoy taste traditional cuisine with innovative nuances.

... and we got recipes

Canarian poached white fish with red and green mojo sauces  prepared at Taste of Dublin                     Photo: Pat Keenan

     Salt fish is dried and salted, looks odd, like dried-up white leather,  and it needs to be re-hydrated and de-salted before use.  It softens once rehydrated and tastes delicious when cooked.  It’s extremely popular in Mediterranean countries and salt cod and ling are always available year round at  K O'Connell Fish Merchants in the English Market, Cork.

Ingredients
1.5 kg. Salted white fish cod, haddock or monkfish, 6 tablespoons of olive oil
2 onions, diced, for poaching and slices of lemon

Preparation
•  To prepare the fish, fill a large pan or bowl with cold fresh water and leave your fish to soak in the fridge for 36 hours, at least overnight, before you require it.
•  Change the water at 8 hour intervals - should be left with a little saltiness.
•  Boil water in a saucepan.
•  When the water stars to boil add the fish onions and parsley and allow to simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.
•  Remove the saucepan from heat and lift out the fist and sieve the liquid left over.
•  Discard the onions and parsley.
•  Return the sieved liquid to the saucepan and add the potatoes.
•  When the potatoes are almost cooked add the fish and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
•  Take the saucepan off the heat, separate the fish, drain the potatoes and put them aside for the red mojo sauce

Red Mojo Recipe
Enough for four people.
•  To make put 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped into a mortar bowl, add a teaspoon of cumin seeds, a teaspoon of smoky paprika or pimentón, a good pinch of coarse sea salt and a sliver of red hot pepper. Grind with a pestle.
•  Add 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar and 8 tablespoons olive oil and stir to bind the ingredients.  
•  Sieve to remove any lumps and pour into a bowl and add a splash of carbonated water to loosen the sauce.
     Some chefs like to add breadcrumbs to thicken and water to loosen.
     Mojo Rojo is also -indeed is mostly - served with papas arrugadas: those small wrinkly potatoes, originally cooked in sea water but nowadays, they use very salty water. The salt dehydrates the potatoes leaving them with wrinkled skin. Mojo should be thick enough to stick to the potatoes but it should never be lumpy.

Papas Arrugadas
     To make papas arrugadas boil small potatoes in just enough salty water to cover in an uncovered pan. Cook until the water is almost all gone. Leave them in the pan until they dry and covered with a fine white crust of sea salt.

Sweet Potato Crisps
     Cut the sweet potatoes into very thin slices. Place them on a kitchen towel, sprinkle them with salt and fry until crisp and golden brown.

The Wines
     We washed it all down with Lanzarote red and white wine. For me the white chilled Bodegas Los Bermejos Bermejo Malvasia Seco was the clear winner for the warm and sunny Dublin afternoon. The marvel is its origin, 100% Malvasia Seco grapes grown in Lanzarote black volcanic soil. http://en.losbermejos.com/

Web Connections
Spanish Tourism Office in Dublin: www.spain.info/en_IE/
Turismo Lanzarote: www.turismolanzarote.com
Saboreal Lanzarote (Tasting Lanzarote): http://saborealanzarote.org/
Bodega los Bermejos wines:  http://en.losbermejos.com/
Amura Restaurante: www.restauranteamura.com/
Casa Brígida: www.restaurantecasabrigida.com
The Port House: www.porthouse.ie/
K O'Connell Fish Merchants for dried fish in Cork: www.koconnellfish.com/site

More Photos

Spanish Ambassador José María Rodríguez Coso with chefs Pedro Santana and Manu Liria from Lanzarote. 

Sara Rivero López. Media Manager at Spanish Tourist Board in Dublin
and Myles McWeeney, food, wine and travel columnist.

Director of Spanish Tourism Board, Dublin, Teresa Gancedo